New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson expects to sign both third baseman David Wright and knuckleballer R.A. Dickey to long-term contract extensions this winter, reports Mike Puma of the NY Post:
"I fully expect David Wright and R.A. Dickey will be here not only next year, but long term," Alderson said. "We have options on both of those players. I don’t want to rely on those options and go into next season with their free agency after 2013.
"We’re going to deal with them while we still have a little bit of room to maneuver, but we're committed to trying to bring those two back."
Both players have club options for the 2013 season---Wright at $16 million, Dickey at $5 million---but, as should be expected, neither has stated whether they will stay with the Mets beyond next season. Wright and Dickey have expressed an openness to discussions during the off-season, but their decision to test the free agent market will likely come down to whether or not they like where the franchise is headed:
"Right now I’ll listen to whatever proposal they put out there and hopefully get into a healthy dialogue with them about what their vision is and what they’re going to do," Dickey said. "Until then I can’t even speculate."
Locking the pair up long-term may also hinge on payroll flexibility. Alderson said he hopes the Mets' payroll situation, currently at around $100 million, will remain about the same next year. Including Wright and Dickey's options, the Mets already have roughly $74 million committed to six players on the pre-arbitration payroll for next season, but only $13.5 million is committed for 2014.